Sim Audio P-3 preamp comments???

too lean. I had the P-5 for a while- VERY accurate, however the love affair was short indeed. I went tubes for pre, however, that being said, you have a tubed CD player that might help in that regard.

Here is another interesting option- I have the wonderful Sim Audio Attraction preamp/processor- I believe it was UHF that said the preamp section was actually superior to the original P-5. Sim just began offering the upgrade to true analog throughput, which means that as long as you are using the RCA outs from the Metronome, you can have the best of both worlds- awesome home theater (if that even matters to you) AND a killer high-end preamp all in one box. Just an idea.

If HT is NOT of interest, and this is a 2-channel pursuit only, listen to a few different preamps, try some of the tubed variety as well- I absolutely love the Hovland HP-100, and although I drive my amps direct from the CDP in my 2-channel system, if I DID need a preamp, that would be it.

I never heard either, but I have the P-5003, which was the older Celeste line equivalent of the P-3. That is, it was the same as the more expensive top of the line P-5002, but without the outboard power supply. The factory told me (I have no local dealer) that they had a hard time selling the 5002 because the difference in sound was so much less than the difference in price. The P-5002 was discontinued when the Moon series came out. My guess is that if you already use a good power line conditioner then the P-3 is very close to the P-5. If you don't have a PLC, I would bet that buying something like the PS300 and a P-3 is a better value than a P-5 because the PS300 will improve you CD and tuner, too, and more than the improvement you'd get from running the unconditioned sources through the P-5.

I owned the P5 for about a year. I completely agree with Mr/Ms Sutts. The unit is very lean. I also found it to be less resolving and emotionally uninvolving than others I have owned. For example I found the Joule-Electra to be a far superior pre as well as the now discontinued (but still available on the used market) Pass ALeph P. I have not heard any of the Pass X series preamps.

Mike